Turnbull is already saying climate policies are “not set in stone”. Beware the emissions trading scheme.

It’s only been a week, and already the door is open to the emissions trading monster. The Nationals may have got Turnbull to agree in writing last Tuesday that he would not change the Abbott policies, but writing things on paper is not enough, apparently it needs to be carved in stone.

We lose sovereign control. The price of the EU market is set by bureaucrats in Brussels. How many carbon credits will they give away to friends this year, and which pandering group qualifies to sell them? If we buy or sell EU carbon credits we give sovereign control over the cost of our energy (and economy) to people we have no say in electing, who are not accountable in any way, and do not have our best interests at heart.

It’s forever. We create “property rights” worth billions. Most taxes can be voted out. A trading scheme tax can’t be unwound without paying massive dollars in compensation. See point 2.

It’s not efficient. It has an overwhelming auditing burden. A global market based on items we can’t “see” or really want needs constant overbearing auditing to stop cheats (e.g .See corruption in Russia and Ukraine, August 2015). Corruption is already rife in the EU carbon market, what chance does it have in the third world? Countries without rule of law, democracy, transparency and a free press are riddled with corruption and just not ready or capable to maintain a fake free market. Hands up who wants to make the corrupt even wealthier and more powerful in those places? It’s yet another force working against honest businessmen in the third world. Say No for the sake of the poor.

Money goes overseas for nothing. There is no useful product sent back to Australia in return. At least if we sequester carbon in our soils and plants we get something, even if it’s terrible value for money.

If we want solar panels and wind panels to work, just fund the damn research ourselves. Then we own it, and might be able to sell something useful one day.

Here’s Turnbull testing the waters to see how much liberals, nationals and voters protest

Turnbull, who has also sought to allay concerns from the Nationals and conservative members of the Liberal party that he would overturn the Coalition’s existing climate policies, repeated his support for the government’s post-2020 emissions reduction targets and the other measures Hunt had assembled “with great care”.

But he also kept the door open to tweaking the policies if, as many observers predict, they will be inadequate in the longer term. “There will be changes to policies if they don’t work as well as we think, or we think others can work better. None of this is written in stone, but I don’t have any plan to change those policies because everything we see at the moment suggests they’re working very well.”

Turnbull did not specify the sorts of changes that could be considered, but the Coalition’s “Direct Action” policy could be “dialled up” into a baseline and credit emissions trading scheme by toughening the safeguards mechanism and allowing credits to be purchased.

A proposal to make radical changes to the government’s Direct Action policy so cheap international carbon permits can be used in Australia threatens to exacerbate cabinet divisions over ­environmental policy.

Although Mr Hunt’s office was adamant Senator Xenophon’s proposed changes were his own and did not come with the government’s seal of approval, behind the scenes the two have been co-operating and Mr Hunt is personally supportive, according to sources.

Business groups have been lobbying for the change, which would allow them to meet their abatement targets far more cheaply by simply buying permits on the international market.

But support for the change within the Coalition party room is far from ­certain, because Mr Abbott has previously voiced scepticism that international carbon permits do little to help the atmosphere because many come from countries like China where regulation and oversight is weak.

He described international permits as a “get-rich-quick scheme for foreign carbon traders” while in opposition.

Greg Hunt wants the RET, but most of the rest of the Liberal party don’t:

Mr Hunt’s support of the Renewable Energy Target has already put him in opposition to Mr Abbott and the ­majority of cabinet, who wish to see it scrapped or drastically reduced.

Mr Abbott favours winding up the RET and grandfathering existing ­large-scale projects, while Mr Hunt wants to modestly scale back the RET.

None of the ministers wish to ­preserve the RET in its current form, despite industry continuing to warn any change – scale back or abolition – will be devastating to current projects and torpedo more than $10 billion in promised investment.

These are not the policies we voted for. Are we going to let Turnbull get away with it?

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Rating: 9.6/10 (72 votes cast)

Turnbull is already saying climate policies are "not set in stone". Beware the emissions trading scheme., 9.6 out of 10 based on 72 ratings

Turnbull is smarter than that – expect no change before the upcoming COP 21 December Meeting in Paris and no change to the existing Coalitions’s “Direct Action Policy” until after the Federal Election next year. For the PM to attempt a change from the Coalitions’s “Direct Action Policy” to a “Global ETS Policy” in the near term would be political suicide.

No ALA house of representative candidates, only upper house. Government by Senate second guessing government has never been satisfactory, consider the blocking and amendments of good government legislation in recent times including over $30 billion of proposed budget savings.

And note that according to news.com.au the ALA is owned by “the secretive Q-Society” of Victoria.

You can bet your boots the government will sign us up to an ETS in Paris. Political realities may force the (now even further Left) Liberal government not to directly introduce a carbon tax or ETS, but that will not prevent them from using the Left’s preferred means of bypassing parliament, and therefore the will of the people (such as it is in socialist Australia) – namely, the government’s treaty-making power – to impose the Left’s climate change agenda on us. In this way it can be delivered as a fait accompli to the nation, and the government can deflect blame by hiding behind all the usual euphemisms about ‘the world agreeing to a position’ and ‘everyone being on equal footing’.

Supporting the Left’s climate change agenda offers an ambitious person very alluring potential rewards. It is, for example, one of the ways in which a retired political figure could advance their prospects for a gig at the very pinnacle of the international cocktail party circuit. And how much of our money would they use to buy that opportunity for themselves? We have no power to stop them from doing so.

Our political system is deeply flawed. Because we have next to no control over government, politics in Australia attracts and rewards people who are high on the psychopathy index (with some notable exceptions, of course). They see politics as a way of advancing their own interests (just look at all the corruption, jobs for the boys, grants to mates, legislative favours, etc) and to push their own prejudices and hatreds (look at the Left’s republic and immigration agenda). The parallels with organised crime are self-evident – psychopaths without consciences and with no concern for right or wrong. Socialist Australia – what a dump!

I am out on a limb I suppose but I suspect that Turnbull went with the KRudd ETS in 2009 in the lead up to Copenhagen on the basis that a deal would be done and if the Libs were not on board they would be toast on the issue with KRudd ascendant. No deal was done as it turned out, KRudd was ‘done over by the Chinese’ and MT had been done over by TA. It was an error of judgement by MT and resonated with his earlier faux pas with Godwin Grech. The situation is different now. MT knows damn well that a meaningful deal is highly unlikely in Paris and anything but defacto circumspection is suicide. He probably should have had his ear to the ground in 2009 as I imagine it was well understood by many that the Chinese et al were not signing up to anything that would hamper their growth. That is probably still true although they will piss in the pocket of any fool like Obama who comes along all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

We shall see. I think MT knows damn well what will happen if he even looks like reneging on current climate policies.[Editorial judgement applied] Fly

Chairman Mal is a zealot, along with Hunt, and they reckon the science is settled.

The government’s delegation to the Paris gabfest is bound to be stacked with the right sort of people, expressing the belief that the new leader is a ‘believer’ and that we’ll do more in the years ahead.

A few months ago Dennis Jensen and Chris Back supported a Liberal motion to discuss climate change, but it was hijacked and sent to a policy committee to avoid a public brawl.

I imagine under the new broom that will be shelved or buried, also the BoM temperature audit will probably end up in the same hole.

You get advice, help with carbon inventories, carbon credits at great prices, lots of “flexibility mechanisms” so just about anything can be carbon reduction…and the reassurance of dealing with a nation with a proven track record in the sale of intangibles.

I know some of you who missed the East African Carbon Fair in Kampala last July (not making that up) will want to snap up a Nigerian carbon bargain.

What happened in Newcastle after the last state election was the template for ALL politicians.

Once you get elected GO FOR IT because you may get the boot in three years.

Newcastle has been ravaged by the libs after we trusted them by electing Tim Owen.

The thanks we got was to have the two main issues turned against us.

The old rail corridor was to be used for the new tram system and the general behaviour of our government was expected to be less rapacious than the Labs.

Unfortunately not so; a stroke of the pen doubled the height limits on a string of developments (an easy 10 million there) and the old rail corridor is now open for “development as the trams are squeezed onto the city road (uncountable potential there).

A token toy tram system will be installed if they get around to it.

UGLY stuff.

Now Turnbull wants us, all 23 million of us to save the other 8 billion people on the planet

The world has lost it’s way. The climate change movement is just one, albeit large, tentacle of the global oligarchy. I don’t think the skeptic movement can really do much to halt their advance. As such I am giving up the fight. It has been extremely well fought, and I applaud all those who have stood up for truth, reason, science and common sense, despite the personal cost in terms of time, frustration and being subjected to name calling, ridicule, and worse. I am devoting my time now to helping people less fortunate than myself in the community. At least that way I can make a positive differenceto the world without having to hit my head against an immense brick wall on a daily basis. This will be my last post on this site. Well done and thank you all for your eternal vigilance and bravery. God Bless.

Sonny, my sentiments exactly. We are fighting a lost cause. Sure we should not give up but it’s obvious we’ve lost already. The AGW alarmist hoax and scammers are too big and powerful. Look at the ABC now talking to Turnbull asking him what is he going to do and act in the name of climate change. It’s obvious Turnbull being a lefty wanted to follow the footsteps of Al Gore. Like all rich people they always want more. Abbott on the other hand wasn’t interested in great riches – just to do good for the country as best he can. Voters clearly don’t like such boring people. They prefer a more dramatic and energetic person to lead the country, even if it ends up destroying it. As far as the media, the public education system, teachers, pupils and much of the politicians, runaway AGW is a fact. Too bad the real facts prove it otherwise. We have no real voice, thanks to the scientific community who should be by now yelling and screaming how it’s all a farce. We can’t even allow true debates on the subject. It’s a given now. Schools now teach the woes of global warming/climate change and the desperate need to act.

Contact the Samaritans PeterS, you need help, unless you are a greenie plant.
For myself I refuse to surrender anything to these manipulative, lying, mendacious bastards in the media and Green/Lefty circles. Nobody who values freedom in all its forms can afford to throw in the towel, never ever give in to these people, maintain the rage, always.

Me a Greenie plant? I despise them. I equate them to the ecofascist environmentalists that were part of the Nazi party, and the current neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party of Greece, the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party of USA who have a green version of the original Nazi flag, and others like them.

You’re absolutely right. Let them put in a carbon trading scheeme (a hidden tax) and pretty soon you’ll have a carbon tax (outright). Then the price of all goods and services will sky-rocket and you won’t be able to help yourself much less others.

The Mother Nature will have the last laugh. The pause may translate to the onset of the cooling trend soon (which I hope won,t happen as this will bring death and destruction).

But do u really think that global warming crap is anything different to the everyday studipidy of the vast majority of people? We were never going to prevail with numbers as the thinking invidual is a rare commodity indeed. Humanity just survived calamities of the XX century and already has forgotten them. Humanity,s default situation is to keep quiet, get a little patch of stability, some money, the weekend bottle or two and that is all. They want to be left alone thinking that nothing will happen to them. The ostrich posture never worked in the past and won,t work in the future.

Sorry Sonny but this won’t be your last post here, the fact you made the effort to post in the first place to share what you knew and seek out others for information speaks volumes for the sort of person you are, nobody’s perfect but the core morals are what counts, if not us who, if not now when?

Take stock and look after yourself first so others can benefit, cheers.

Not to mention the fact that had the rest of the ‘elite’ in Sparta taken heed to the words of Lonidas, the three hundred would not have had to be slaughtered. Sure, it was that valor and sacrifice that rallied the rest of Greece, but I wonder why it always has to be that people will wait until the last minute, when pushed up against the wall, left with no recourse, until they finally decide to defend themselves?

Given Frank’s comments in the past my impression is that he’s looked into his heart, done the required soul-searching and come to the conlusion that he’s not a very good person. Then, based on this assessment, (whether objectively true or false), he’s decided that others must be the same as he so they deserve to be ruled with an iron fist, punished for the slightest infraction, forced into poverty, etc. as per ‘The Agenda’.

You can’t have empathy for others when you view yourself in a negative light.

I have emailed Hunt and Turnbull using JOanne Nova’s comments to point out to them the failings of a CO2 Trading Scheme. This would be a time to deluge the politicians on the matter in an attempt to educate them.

“In a change of tack, Mr Hunt told The Australian Financial Review, “I think [the renewables industry] should feel that with myself, Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg, they will be in a very, very supportive environment.” …”

Pretty much what I expected and previously expressed regarding Greg Hunt. Turnbull’s leftism was never in any doubt.

It’s a scheme to build empires and line the pockets of their leaders. Nothing new about it as similar scams have been performed many times before. The difference this time it’s worldwide and huge so lots of money to be made by the snake oil salespeople and scientists who support it.

I would suggest that Rudd/Gillard/Rudd and Treasury modelling at the time would possibly give some clues.

Bulk of scammed money goes to UN and what will stay here will go toward paying back ‘Industry Super Funds’ for their current and ongoing ‘investments’ in wind and solar plus a jag of money to go to funding new schemes.

It is fairly mind boggling to consider that since the introduction of John Howard’s RET scheme that Australia has gone from one of the lowest cost producers of electricity to be one of the highest cost producers.

Howard later came to the position where he referred to the promotion of the AGW phenomenon as being like a religion. Let’s hope that has not gone completely over Turnbull’s head.

Further there are still quite a few informed skeptics in his Cabinet from both the Liberal and National Parties. Turnbull has been making much of freeing up the economics of the system, including the labour market, to improve the efficiency of manufacturing production. Surely, if he as yet doesn’t understand the negative impact that any form of carbon tax has on that efficiency, he has plenty of cabinet ministers equipped to advise him.

One hope is that, if necessary, those Cabinet skeptics will keep him true to his promise to not introduce a carbon tax aka an ETS.

The other is that as a parliamentary tactic he will use the efficiency reality to highlight the willful ignorance of Shorten on this aspect of a carbon tax and his insane 50% renewable energy target by 2030.

I do not let Howard off as lightly as you seem to do. Nor his treasurer Costello.

We have no manufacturing left in Australia because of energy costs. That was Howard.

In the last 10 years there has been no growth in ordinary employment outside of Health, Education and Government. Check out the ABS figures if you do not think that is correct. They are wrong or I am wrong but I am using ABS.

What the ‘smart’ people are doing is ‘investing’ in products or industries that rely upon the income tax slaves to fund them.

I happen be still involved in a small manufacturing (engineering) business which I started in 1971. Both my sons are now involved in its management.These days I just get to work on one of the specialised machines I designed and built back in the early days. We compete with products from Germany and the US. We beat both on wear life by a factor of about two which means less machine down time for those who use our parts.(parts are used in abattoir by product processing for the production of tallow and bone meal etc – high volume export items) and match them for price.

The ALP carbon tax had a bit price hit on all our customers who effectively were fined if they exceeded an unreasonably low monthly/yearly kWh target. For several companies we deal with that was in the tens of million dollars.

As living standards grow in Asia there is a fair chance that manufacturing will revive somewhat here in the future.

The end of manufacturing industry was commenced when the Whitlam Labor Government signed the UN Lima Protocol (agreement) in 1975, that required developed countries that signed to transfer manufacturing industry to the third world counties, including know how free of charge.

However, manufacturing industry in Australia cannot compete with most other countries because of the operating costs here. When a WA luxury yacht designer and builder can move to the US and export to Australia offering much lower retail pricing what hope do any manufacturers have? The yacht was offered here for around A$1.5 million when locally made and the imported from the US identical yacht if sold for around A$900 thousand. The Australian Financial Review last year reported that, rounded off figures, the total cost per day for skilled labour in Australia is A$600 compared to A$400 in the US. In India the cost is A$200. These figures relate to all costs, not just wages. Australia has huge industrial relations law problems and too often poor productivity in a culture that requires all employees to take all of their sick leave entitlement even when no sick, and other business operating cost impositions. Government red and green tape regulations are another negative.

The high cost of electricity was carbon tax and renewable energy surcharge, and state Labor governments borrowing money off budget via government owned electricity businesses paid to the government as extra dividends. Hidden debts. In NSW Labor sold half of the electricity businesses for $6.1 billion less than the lowest valuation and when the hidden debts were retired all that was left was $800 million.

Australia has reached the point where even with the most efficient machinery businesses here cannot compete with imported products.

Actually, it was earlier Labour governments like the Hawke/Keating that helped destroy Australian industry by lowering/removing import tariffs. My career was ruined by those Labour initiatives.

Australian manufacturing has been on the decline for decades, not helped by the high Aussie dollar in recent years and cheap asian (not just China now, but also Japan and Taiwan through the 60′s and 70′s)imports over the last 5 decades.

I’m old enough to have lived through the decline of western manufacturing, not just in Oz but the UK as well.

Whitlam Labor early 1970s and Hawke – Keating Labor 1983-1996. Removal of trade barriers was part of the Lima Protocol agreement.

There are many reasons why manufacturing is not commercially viable in Australia, size of the market is a factor, economies of scale in manufacturing are uncompetitive unless export markets provide the extra sales volume. On the other hand removal of import duties reduced the cost of imported goods for Australian consumers. And despite retaining a tariff on motor vehicles 8 out of 10 purchased by Australians have been imported.

When skilled labour here costs around $600/day with all operating costs included in that figure and in the US the cost is around $400/day Australia is not a country to invest money in manufacturing businesses. And a high A$ is another factor as you posted.

Yes I agree, there are many other reasons other than the one I mentioned and skilled labor costs is certainly one of them. It’s really a rather complicated issue. I must admit to owning an imported 1998 Nissan Pathfinder.

I’m seeing it from the biased perspective of how it effected me at the time i.e. loss of career.

If it is true that extra atmospheric CO2 has very little effect on climate then why have we got two dominant political parties that appear to firmly believe the opposite? Where do they get their opinions from? What forces are in play that cause the people we entrust and pay to manage our nation to ignore the obvious? Is it a lack of science knowledge in the political class? Is it the tight position in our Senate that means both major parties need to curry favour with the Greens? Whatever it might be it reveals a fault in our political system. We need to fix it.

John, there are several competing forces as regards opinions on global warming:
a. Those who can see there is a lot of money to be made in carbon trading;
b. Those who have been brought-up on the global warming myth, the young in our schools, the gullible who believe the media propaganda;
c. The greens who believe with religious zeal that every flood, famine, and heat wave is due to climate change;
d. Those people working in bureaucracies and institutions where it is politically correct not to question the AGW hypothesis; BOM, CSIRO, Universities etc.
e. The politicians who interpret the beliefs of the people; really a self-fufilling prophesy to some extent
f. Remember there are only handful of politicians with a scientific background, the vast majority are lawyers; thus they are relying upon advice of bureaucrats and advisers who have various agenda. I think PM Rudd took a 100+ folk to Copenhagen, how many of them are or were skeptics, probably none.

The AGW hypothesis has been a dismal failure in scientific terms with no predictive value of any consequence and no correlation between levels of carbon dioxide and global temperature. However, in political terms it has been a resounding success and the true believers march on to their next meeting in Paris where we all will be signed-up to some sort of agreement buying carbon credits from Timbuktoo, or wherever in Africa. These worthless pieces of paper will not change the world’s climate for practical purposes and the 2 degrees being forecast is pie in the sky. Our only hope is India and China whose governments realise that the only way to improve their economies is to provide cheap reliable electricity which requires coal and uranium.

In the meantime the Renewable Energy Industry continues, but as yet no-one has explained where is the electricty is going to come from when the sun doesn’t shine, about 84% of the time, and when the wind doesn’t blow, about 75% of the time. In terms of carbon sequestration, the seas within our economic zone exceed our CO2 emissions by several orders of magnitude. Why even bother with emission targets!

Government electoral funding is currently about $2.50 per primary vote. Vote for a candidate whose second preferences flow-on to the party you would prefer, but redirect the funds to serve as a warning to that party.

21 Sept: ABC 7.30 Report: Can Malcolm Turnbull’s substance match his style after the fresh face of a new Ministry?
Malcolm Turnbull’s new Ministry presents a completely fresh face for the new Government but now it’s now time to see if the Prime Minister’s substance can match his stylehttp://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4316958.htm

21 Sept: ABC 7.30 Report: PM and Government can provide leadership and confidence suggests Malcolm Turnbull
Confidence issues face the business sector and the Prime Minister and Government can provide leadership and confidence for the country, suggests PM Malcolm Turnbull.
LEIGH SALES: …Prime Minister, congratulations on your elevation to the position…
LEIGH SALES: Given that you cited 30 poor Newspolls in a row as the reason for – one of the reasons for removing the previous prime minister, can we agree that we are never going to hear you on this program as Prime Minister say that the only poll that matters is the one on election day?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: (Laughs) I’ve only ever said that – well, I’ve only ever said that somewhat tongue-in-cheek. You know, it’s like one of those things that every politician says – well many politicians say. “We don’t look at the opinion polls.” Nobody looks at opinion polls…
LEIGH SALES: Now we know you do!
MALCOLM TURNBULL: with more attention than politicians.
LEIGH SALES: Excellent. I’ll remember that…
LEIGH SALES: Let me ask you a bit of a personal question and I don’t mean it to be offensive in any way.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: That means it probably will be!
LEIGH SALES: Probably will be a bit.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Just a little bit offensive, yeah.
LEIGH SALES: Life has dealt you some great cards that few people get, right? You’ve got a great brain, everyone would agree, good parents, good health, lovely family, good education, enormous wealth. What do you say to Australians who might think, “Well how can Malcolm understand what it is to struggle for anything ’cause Malcolm’s had everything that he’s ever wanted?”…
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Because you know something? there are very few propositions or ideas that are not improved by engaging with others.
LEIGH SALES: I’m sorry I’m laughing, but you’re not at the dispatch box and you’re not at the bar, so I’ve got to squeeze in one more question before we run out of time.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: One more question. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
LEIGH SALES: I’m sorry. I’m sorry to be rude like that too.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: You’re not being rude at all. It’s quite understandable.
LEIGH SALES: The – no, no, I did cut you directly off.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: That’s fine.
LEIGH SALES: One quick question before we go. Where do you intend to live in Sydney, in your residence or at Kirribilli?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, Lucy and I will continue to live, that’s to say, sleep, in our house in Sydney, which of course is agreeably close to our grandson and – but Kirribilli House, as you know, has been used as the – by prime ministers and we’ll obviously use that for – for official entertaining and it’s very valuable. It’s a great location to use for charities and for, you know, opportunities to, you know, support good causes. So, it’s – we’ll certainly be doing that, but we’ll be sleeping at home…http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4316975.htm

Turnbull does respond to a “Climate Change” policy question but, if you can make sense of it or any other of his rambling, incoherent, responses (I’ve only excerpted the silliest, shorter bits), good for you.

the unsolicited anecdote about his “quiet” word to the chief executive of Goldman Sachs “very successful investment bank” where “I was a partner” is presumably thrown in to show he cares for the less well off, but isn’t convincing on paper (I didn’t watch the program).

anyway, the responses scarcely matter to Sales, who is clearly besotted by the fresh, stylish, confident newly-elevated leader.

You know what they say about things which have been elevated – “what goes up, must come down…”

Leigh Sales and her fawning over Turnbull is just as sickening as her obvious hatred for Abbott. I do not know how anyone could call themselves a journalist and keep a straight face when they can’t even attempt to hide their personal opinions on the subject matter.

and apparently “style” goes down well with the Australian voters! time will tell:

21 Sept: Sky News: Turnbull gives govt 12-point poll bounce
Voters have welcomed the change in the Liberal party leadership with a 12 per cent bounce in the two-party-preferred vote.
A Morgan Poll released on Monday night shows the Coalition on a sizeable 10 point lead…
The latest Morgan poll taken before last Monday’s spill showed the Coalition trailing Labor on a two party preferred vote of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
Just a week into Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership the government is now polling at 55 per cent to 45 per cent.
The Coalition also added 11 points to its primary vote at the expense of not only Labor but the Greens suggesting Mr Turnbull appeals to a wider range of voters…http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/09/21/turnbull-gives-govt-12-point-poll-bounce.html

21 Sept: Roy Morgan: New PM Turnbull gives L-NP (55%) big lead over ALP (45%)
If a Federal Election were held now the L-NP would win easily…
Support for the Greens fell to 13% (down 3%)…
This week’s Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted last weekend, September 19/20, 2015, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,059 Australian electors…
Gary Morgan says: “In addition a special Snap SMS Morgan Poll conducted last week showed Turnbull (70%) with a huge lead over Shorten (24%) as ‘Better Prime Minister’ while 6% support neither/ other or can’t say.
“In further good news for the new Prime Minister – the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has jumped to 103pts (up 17pts) with 42.5% (up 7.5%) of Australians saying Australia is ‘heading in the right direction’ compared to only 39.5% (down 9.5%) that say Australia is ‘heading in the wrong direction’. This is the first time the Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating has been in positive territory since April 2014 – just before former Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered his deeply unpopular first Federal Budget. Tomorrow’s ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Rating will give the first indication of how Turnbull’s ascent to the top job has impacted on Australian consumers…
Electors were asked: “If an election for the House of Representatives were held today – which party will receive your first preference?”…
Finding No. 6471 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face interviewing last weekend September 19/20, 2015 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,059 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 1.5% (down 3.5%) did not name a party.http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/6471-morgan-poll-federal-voting-intention-september-21-2015-201509210733

AGW is a political expedient firstly and a trivial scientific curiosity secondly. The fact that this simple truth isn’t realised by the average person is testimony to the successful dumbing-down of society by the ruling class. Sigh.

Could it be this super El Niño is masking a decline in global temperature?

Yes. Just like in the late nineties when natural variation was producing rising temperatures and the ‘Super’ el-nino then gave us even more warming, so too on the way down. I.e. when natural variation produces a lowering trend in temperatures, a ‘Super’ el-nino will slow the downward trend.

By election time next year, when the el-nino will have surely lost it’s influence, we’re in for another colder winter just like the last two.

but writing things on paper is not enough, apparently it needs to be carved in stone.

That means Australian politicians can be viewed as more able to keep promises than those in the British Labour Party.
About three days before the General Election in May Labour party leader produced a 2.5m limestone structure with some banal promised literally “carved in stone” that he intended to place in the garden of No 10 Downing Street. His chief election strategist, Lucy Powell, went on a national breakfast time radio show to promote it. She said

I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the fact that he’s carved them into stone means, you know, means that he will absolutely, you know, not going to break them or anything like that.

In theory, I don’t have a problem with politicians changing their views, and policies, because things don’t stay the same. However, if a politician is stupid or foolhardy enough to make promises and statements along the lines of ‘never ever…’ or ‘we’ll always support…’, or some such claims of perpetuity, then I expect that person to stick to what they have said, or face the wrath of the electorate.

Slightly off topic, but related in a semantic way – I note that the Australian opposition leader/Union boofhead, Bill Shorten, has been waxing lyrical about his service to ‘the workers’, when asked about his appearance at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Not once does he even come close to claiming he is innocent of any claims made against him. Despite the fact he’s (in my opinion) an odious little man of ill repute, I have to grudgingly admire such tricky use of language when live on air.

A thoroughly great post and should serve as a warning to Australians that they do not understand what they getting themselves into

ALL of your 6 points are spot on !

During the late 1980s I worked for Reuters (not just a news agency) which designs financial systems for Banks around the world and as an engineer I would travel to major banks in Europe and Asia to set up commiunications systems for their Front Desk, Back office and settlement systems (SWIFT).
The one thing that became apparent was the collosal number of trades being done and the astronomical profits (and losses) being gained by those involved.
In those days much of the trading was done by people (Traders). however in today’s Markets , trades are done by computers , which pulse the market with micro trades to prepare it for a block trade. On the other side is another computer trying to sense the intention of these micro trades so that it can pre-empt them. It is this reason why the frequency and intesity of the crashes have increased since 1929.

From the traders perspective , ETS is a truly great candidate for “fixing” and “manipulation”, and is on a scale that will literally dwarf the LIBOR “rate fixing” scandal.

The Derivatives market is worth around $1.2 quadrillion , where as the LIBOR market is worth 350 trillion, just as reference.

Back in the early 1970′s I was trained in Internal Auditing by an old bloke, Partner, of an Australian office of the then Australian Price Waterhouse & Co. I actually got to be in part of the meet up with the then Coopers & Lybrand which all became PWC.

I was a junior but pretty good and I only left when they started to employ arrogant dick heads that had been through university without any real world experience whatsoever.

But I went on to make some money by being a fix-it type person.

All of this ‘peer review’ does not pass basic internal audit tests.

None of the CAGW papers are anywhere near being prepared for an internal audit.

That so called ‘leaders’ like Obama, The Pope, whomever endorse CAGW only means they should be subject to an internal audit.

I you make the HUGE ASSUMPTION that CO2 has anything at all to do with temperatures rising, then you must also consider that you Aussies only contribute 1.6% of the worldwide CO2. This means you are not the problem, and cannot really affect worldwide concentrations in any statistical meaningful way. So please don’t waste your money, or at least have Turncoat explain himself a little better.

The outflow of money (look at Brazil) will have serious consequences for the Australian Dollar. In addition every Business needing energy intensive processes will be literally “choked out of existence” by the requirement to obtain certificates. Inflation will increase dramatically as everything will be tied to these certificates.

The Chinese and Indians will have free reign in a market where one side does what it likes and the other has volunteered to wear a straight jacket.
Australia is surrounded by countries that either don’t care about ETS, or who are demanding “payouts”.

This looks very much like “Little Big Horn”, and that did not turn out to well for “you know who” !

Look..we are $#&&.
A quick historical tour.. Tony Windsor said he would rely on the Productivity Commission report for him on the ETS.
He received it and said it worked and voted for it.
But the minor problem was…the productivity Commission said an ETS failed in all nations except the UK.
I have an email from Paul Belin. Assistant Commissioner. Australian Government Productivity Commission confirming this.
Windsor took that report..and then lied to the Australian people and helped get it an ETS through.
Now if I could find this out…why could the MSM not find it out..sorry guys and gals..we are %$#@ big time..corruption and post modern Orwellian thought has won..
Turnbull will bring in an ETS in..no doubt..

It would appear to me that Turnbull is trying to keep everyone happy, especially his media buddies. We all know the only thing that matters is Turnbull keeping Turnbull happy –nothing else.

I struggle to see how he can entertain the idea of an ETS (tax) when his primary goal (according to repeated statements from him) is the economy and getting it back on track.

What is he going to do when the 1000 coal fired power stations(planned for SE Asia) we were told about last week come on stream? Is he going to stop Aussie coal exports or is he just happy to collect any ETS revenues from those exports to send to the UN?

BTW –Tony how long will it take to build one of those power
stations?

The other issue for Liberal voters –if a large number are so disillusioned and they take their vote elsewhere then doesn’t this just fragment the right and let Labor walk in ? Or does your voting system somehow negate this –for example would it be possible for the Nationals to gain more seast than the Liberals and take control of the coalition ?

that 672GW (Nameplate) of new coal fired power in those ten Asian Countries, (and that’s just Asia, and does not include India) is either already being constructed, or in the final stages of planning for actual construction, not just a hoped for thought bubble, but actually in train.

From the proposal of the plant to actual power delivery from the operating plant is usually around five to seven years, and the actual construction part is around 12 to 18 Months.

Incidentally, that 672GW of Nameplate will generate power that is, wait for this, 27 times the total power generation from EVERY power generating source in Australia.

I’ve commented on this before, obviously with no impact, so I don’t really have any hope of broadening your horizons here

However, power station costruction is only HALF of the equation. Reliable fuel supply is needed as a guarantee before construction of the power stations can be funded, so modern pollution-controlled mines are the FIRST half of the equation

So your question should include the time and cost of constructing mines to guarantee supply of properly specced coal. Do you really imagine that 40-50mtpa (million tonnes per annum) of high quality coal can be organised in a month or two ?

The short answer is, for a mine of about 10mtpa capacity, about 5-8 years from initial geological exploration to operations at a cost (including washplant) of about $800m. That timescale is likely to blow out to 10-12 years with the advent of green lawfare or just simple old NIMBY, at least in Aus

[Without pinpointing names, a recent example of the destructiveness of this situation occurred on the south coast of NSW. An offshore entity bought and refreshed an old underground coking coal mine, bringing it back to production at some considerable cost. The raw coal needed washing (beneficiation) but the green lawfare cost and time to push a washplant through to operation in Aus was simply too onerous, so the as-mined product, complete with rock and water, is shipped "as is" offshore and washed there. The time and cost of constructing a modern, pollution-free washplant there was about 1/10th of that in Aus. So good old Aus lost $100m in construction funding and about 50 skilled, on-going jobs]

So the new SE Asian power plants being planned now and scheduled for construction are unlikely to utilise Aus coal as the lion’s share of raw fuel supply. This basically drops Aus into a slowly degrading economic backwater, as manufacturing is already at 3rd world levels

Thanks Ian. I must admit I asked the question of Tony in my original post almost “as an aside” without thinking about it too much. Your added info helps fill a big information gap I have in the area. But I would have thought the Japanese and Chinese financiers would have asked the basic question of “where is the coal coming from?”

There is a coal mining company going cheap in NZ at the moment. Solid Energy (an SOE)has fallen over. Given what is happening in SE Asia it will be interesting to see what buyers come out of the wood work.

that’s something very few people realise, either construction of a power plant at the site of the mine, or having some way to get the coal to the plant if not near the mine itself.

For a typical (no mine site) large scale plant, you’re looking at two train loads of coal per day, and each load 100 hoppers of 100 tons each, so twenty thousand tons a day. So, besides the planning for the plant itself, then there also needs to be rail access as well.

Now, for these planned Nameplate 672 GW of coal fired plants in Asia, you’re looking at an annual coal consumption of around 2.2 billion tons of coal, and yes, that is BILLION.

Also ian, just a question regarding Bayswater if you might have any idea.

That plant is constructed at the mine site, and it’s partner Liddell, is also close by. You’re looking at probably 12 to 14 million tonnes per annum there. Would that mine just be doing enough for those two plants or would there be coal on top of that being mined, and, if so, how much extra, and where might that go?

And ian, I might guess that lining up all the ducks in the planning stage might be a little easier in that Asian region than it might be here in Australia.

21 Sept: ABC: Loretta Florance: Wind farms, solar to be ‘key part’ of Federal Government’s energy strategy, Minister says
Renewable energy will be a “key part” of the Federal Government’s energy platform, the newly elevated Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg says…
The industry, which lost 88 per cent of investment over the past year, amid uncertainty over the RET, had been hopeful the Government’s attitude would change under new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull…
However Mr Turnbull…said he was in favour of retaining the Government’s current climate change policies…
But today, Mr Frydenberg told 774 ABC Melbourne that “clearly renewable energy is a key part of our energy platform”.
“I think wind farms, I think solar, I think they all have a role to play,” he said.
Mr Frydenberg was asked by host Jon Faine if describing renewable energy as a “key platform” represented a u-turn for the Government.
“Don’t play it up to be bigger than it is Jon, what I’m saying is that we as a Coalition Government have entered into a bipartisan agreement with the Labor Party, on a 23.5 per cent renewable energy target by 2020, this will see a doubling of large scale renewable energy,” he said…
“When you talk about coal, that’s a very important part of our energy mix, both here at home as well as overseas and will continue to be because it creates thousands of jobs and is an important source of electricity for much of the developing world.
“I don’t see these issues as mutually exclusive.”
***Policy manager for the Clean Energy Council Darren Gladman said Mr Frydenberg’s comments were “extremely encouraging” for the industry.
“It is no secret that the last couple of years were both challenging and frustrating for the renewable energy industry under former prime minister Tony Abbott,” he said in a statement.
“The renewable energy industry is looking forward to working with Minister Frydenberg, as well as continuing to build on our relationship with Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who clearly recognises the potential of technologies like solar, wind, bio-energy and energy efficiency to create a strong platform for Australia’s future prosperity…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-21/renewable-energy-to-be-key-part-of-federal-government-strategy/6791136

posted the following under “Weekend Unthreaded” yesterday, but for those who didn’t see it:

There are no major economic or technical barriers to achieving 100 per cent renewable energy around the world by 2050, a Greenpeace report says…
“It is not only possible… but it is also cost neutral. As renewables don´t need fuels, the additional investments can entirely be refinanced (to 107 per cent) by fuel costs savings.”… Lucy Cormack, “Greenpeace on renewables: phase out coal, oil, gas and nuclear energy by 2050″ SMH, 21 Sept

Melbourne, he told Parliament, had experienced a hot November evening.
~ ~ ~In August, 2010, Malcolm Turnbull, speaking at the Sydney launch of the Beyond Zero Emissions (www.bze.org.au) at Sydney Town Hall said:

“It is remarkable that on a cold winter’s night, this issue (Global Warming) has managed to fill the town hall.”
. . .
Hot nights in summer, cold nights in winter … it’s the end of the world as we know it.

Jo you’ve left out the most important point. The fact is over 90% of new co2 emissions out to 2040 will come from the non OECD, while the OECD countries will hardly increase at all.
Just look up the EIA forecast for the next 25 years. And while we try to limit emissions here in OZ both sides of politics happily export as much iron ore, coal and gas as they can.
The mitigation of their so called CAGW is the greatest con for the last 100 years. The con could not be more easily understood and yet these people ignore simple maths and science. UAH V 6 data now shows no warming in OZ for 17yrs 11 mths, no global warming for 18yrs 5 mths and zero warming in the south polar region for the entire record since 1979. Will they ever wake up?

major news headline on Macquarie radio network just now – emphasising Pope, Beckham & Bishop headed for NY UN meeting blah blah. had a feeling it would be an AAP piece. CAGW is all celebrity-driven now:

22 Sept: SBS: AAP: Bishop in UN talks on terror, poverty
What could bring together a Pope, a president, a football superstar and an Australian foreign minister?
Global poverty.
Pope Francis, US President Barack Obama, David Beckham and Julie Bishop will be among hundreds of world leaders, dignitaries and charity supporters in New York over the coming eight days to attend a series of UN events.
Ms Bishop will leave on Tuesday to lead Australia’s delegation to the UN General Assembly, the largest annual gathering of world leaders.
A major focus of this year’s meeting is the sustainable development summit…
“I will join world leaders to endorse an ambitious set of sustainable development goals (SDGs),” Ms Bishop said.
“The SDGs will have the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030 at their core and a strong focus on economic growth and gender equality.”…
Reform of the UN system, better peacekeeping methods and Australia’s priorities for the Paris climate change conference in December will also be on the minister’s agenda.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott had been scheduled to attend but his successor Malcolm Turnbull decided not to go.http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/22/bishop-un-talks-terror-poverty

I find it is interesting that Bishop is going to these UN talks which are being pushed as being very important in relation to Paris later in the year. I noted in one of the TV appearances of Turnbull and Bishop after the coup when a question about climate change was asked Bishop butted in and “closed down” Turnbull’s reply. It was almost as though they don’t want Turnbull speaking too much on the topic.

Those of us who dissent from mainstream thinking about climate change truly are voices in the wilderness, analogous to the Rebel Alliance in the fictional Star Wars’ universe.

Scattered, underfunded, thin-on-the-ground – that’s us.

On the other hand, the forces assembled against us are massive.

For many years now, the United Nations, national as well as local governments, Fortune 500 corporations, nearly all of the media, and activists from small church groups to multinational players have vigorously promoted the view that human activity has triggered dangerous climate change.
. . .
Fight on!

“The prime minister, who was sworn in after a successful challenge against Abbott’s leadership last week, described it as”

“a wonderful new cabinet”

Meanwhile China has taken a “timeout” to think about future large capacity energy production… especially as it has seen the recent results of its 2015-2020 GDP growth forecasts.
They obviously need to do something new and bold, and so it is likely that China will “shift up a gear” as it did in 2009.

Meanwhile Turnbull and his new Cabinet, will not be investing in new China ?

This is a very pessimistic take on Turnbull’s comments. He has recognised something that his predecessor didn’t understand – agility in politics and policy is a virtue. Abbott thought that changing position or modifying a view was admitting fallibility and is therefore a weakness – no matter what the circumstance. Because of this he painted himself into multiple corners from which he could imagine no escape (and nothing anyone could say could convince him otherwise… sigh).

You wont have to dig far to find comments, since his election, that show him saying or implying that every single policy is not set in stone. And nor should they be. I therefore think that you are all getting in a tiz about nothing and I think you will find that his pre-election (including those from 2010!) comments are a weak guide as to his intentions at best.

One thing he certainly has recognised is that he got dumped over the issue last time, so we need not expect any real move. Indeed my thought is that he ‘floated a kite’ to appease the loonies while getting an uproar big enough for him to say to them “see, can’t move just yet”. It is certainly harder now than it was at Copenhagen, even before FOI dropped the can.
So he waffles a bit until Paris is another failure, as it will be. After all, China and India alone scupper the whole idea of a reduction in emissions, without any contribution from those installing coal fired power stations. Then he will point at the change coming with the Republicans in the USA as the excuse not to do anything.

Indeed at the rate of progress with these talks – treacle flowing down fly paper – they will be made obsolete by Global Cooling before any agreement other than where to have the next jamboree is made.

Translation:
Say what your pollsters and political advisors have told you that the people would like to hear. This will get you elected. Then, do whatever you want. (What you intended on doing all along.)

Growing up, we used to call this type of person a ‘shifty character’. IOW, don’t believe a word they say. If your goal is to ‘get into power’ then yes, this strategy could be seen as a ‘virtue.

you have articulated exactly what Abbott thought people thought and which obviously you do too. It is not a black and white world and shifting does not mean shifty and when a decision is made does not have to mean that the decision maker believe that it cannot be improved upon. How do they do things in your government in Japan?

22 Sept: Crikey: PollBludger: William Bowe: Newspoll: 51-49 to Coalition
Two new polls makes four altogether under Malcolm Turnbull – including one very odd man out
Two very different poll results today, one in line with the ReachTEL and Galaxy polls that reported in the immediate wake of the leadership change last week, the other not. In the former category is Newspoll, which had the Coalition with a lead of 51-49…
The other poll for the day was Roy Morgan’s EXTRAORDINARY finding of a 10% shift on two-party preferred, which blows out to 12% under respondent-allocated preferences. This leaves the Coalition with leads of 55-45 on the former measure and 53.5-46.5 on the latter, from primary votes of Coalition 46% (up eleven), Labor 29.5 (down seven) and Greens 13% (down three). The poll was conducted on Saturday and Sunday from 2059 respondents, and appears to have have been conducted only using face-to-face polling, which has traditionally shown a lean to Labor. The Newspoll will have been conducted from Friday to Sunday, from about 1700 respondents contacted through robopolling and online surveying…http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/2015/09/22/newspoll-51-49-to-coalition-7/
from comments.
by William Bowe:
The press release says this:
This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face interviewing last weekend …
Whereas it traditionally says this:
This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via SMS and face-to-face interviewing on the weekend …
Of course, if just face-to-face interviewing as it seems to be saying, then there’s nothing “multi-mode” about it. My best guess is that the lack of a reference to SMS is in error.

oddly, News Ltd’s Tim Blair was on radio this morning spruiking the Morgan Poll (no mention of the Newspoll which was already being reported on radio), & imagining a scenario whereby PM Turnbull calls a snap election (& wins) before Labor has time (under their new rules) to replace Bill Shorten. Blair claimed this would then give Turnbull a mandate to change policies blah blah.

20 Sept: UK Telegraph: Economic growth is the key to saving the planet
A new idea is gaining ground, under the term ‘Ecomodernism’, which celebrates that economic growth and technology can go hand in hand with green living
By Owen Paterson
For the past 50 years the environmental movement has been in thrall to a simple, powerful and utterly wrong idea: that the best way to save the planet is to curtail human activity, whether in the form of breeding, building, burning or business. Anybody who suggests a different strategy – that economic activity is not just compatible with environmental benefits, but vital to creating and improving them – has been howled down.
But that is changing, and a new idea is gaining ground, under the term “Ecomodernism”. The key idea behind Ecomodernism is that the more technology human beings adopt, the more they can decouple from dependence on the natural environment and live lives that are prosperous but green. The great Green Blob that dominates the public and NGO sector, whose reactionary tendencies I referred to when I left office as Environment Secretary last year, still refuses to recognise this…
I feel it is necessary to keep drawing attention to the fact that a coalition of environmental pressure groups, with budgets running into the billions worldwide, and with unique access to the corridors of power and far more influence in — say — Brussels than large corporations have, are not just badly mistaken in their analysis, but often act like bullies in the way they threaten and cajole politicians and civil servants…
On September 24 I will be hosting a debate about Ecomodernism with three of its inventors, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus of the Breakthrough Institute of California, and Mark Lynas of Cornell University, Alliance for Science, together with Matt Ridley who has been making very similar arguments for years…http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/climatechange/11877170/Owen-Paterson-Economic-growth-is-the-key-to-saving-the-planet.html

19 Sept: UK Telegraph: Christopher Booker: The state of the Union? A complete shambles
Jean-Claude Juncker wants ‘more Europe’ at every step, yet the whole European project is in tatters
Whenever some crisis arises, or any pause in the onward march to “ever closer union”, the invariable response has been calls for “more Europe”: more power to the centre, more widening of its supra-national empire.
But the second point is that, ever more in recent years, we have seen this supposedly idealistic, ambitious dream bumping up against very uncomfortable realities: over immigrants, over the euro and Greece, over Ukraine and Russia, over its wish to lead the world in fighting climate change by abandoning fossil fuels to depend on “renewable energy”…
Finally, he reasserted the EU’s wish to cut its “carbon emissions” by 40 per cent within 15 years, and to see a “binding global climate treaty” next December. Naturally, he couldn’t admit that this treaty can’t happen because China and India won’t agree to it, as they build hundreds more coal-fired power stations (or that Poland and Germany are doing the same because it is the only way to keep their lights on)…http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/11877398/The-state-of-the-Union-A-complete-shambles.html

There’s something about an ETS which very few people actually realise.

One of the stated aims of the UNFCCC is that:

….. The POLLUTER pays.

Note the inflammatory and in fact diversionary language, inflammatory by referring to CO2 as pollution, and diversionary in that the CO2 emitting entity is actually the one who is paying.

The emitting entity is basically just the middleman, because every cost associated with the mandatory purchase of credits is then automatically passed down to consumers, at every level.

You, as a residential consumer pay the increase in your electricity consumption, as does every consumer.

Now, when you take into account huge consumers like Coles/Woolies etc, they then pass on the increase in their electricity account in increased prices for all their goods, spread across the range of products, and such is the case with every retail outlet.

Hence, not only is money raised from the emissions of CO2, but there is a flow on with respect to the GST.

So, with (around) 400 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted just here in Australia, and at a credit cost of (around) $10, then the amount raised just for the ETS is $4 Billion, and with a 10% GST, there’s an added $400 Million for the Government, and that $400 million they get to keep, and the ETS $4 Billion is just forwarded to the UN.

National Party MPs do not vote for the Liberal Party leadership, but the National’s leader is the Deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition Government. I understand that written agreements were secured from the new PM requiring him to maintain agreed policies already in place and that any decisions in future will be put in writing for the National’s files.

Also, that the combined National Party and Liberal Party MPs who did not vote for the new leader out number his supporters.

I doubt that PM Turnbull will be prepared to risk his leadership position this time.

22 Sept: RTCC: Megan Darby: ‘Inconceivable’ Paris won’t deliver climate pact, says UNEP chief
It is “almost inconceivable” that the Paris meeting will not result in a deal, Steiner said. “What will remain challenging is whether that outcome will add up to a sufficiently robust framework for action.”…
In the past year, UNEP has focused on the financial sector and how it can direct funds to low carbon infrastructure and technology.
Steiner said: “Without a quantum leap forward in investment in the transition, countries will not only not be able to implement their mitigation commitments but will actually fail to be able to make climate change part of an economic and development agenda.”
In negotiations, the spotlight has been on a promise by rich countries to mobilise US$100 billion of climate finance a year by 2020.
“The world is struggling right now in constructing this equation of where the finance will come from,” said Steiner…
That $100bn is “a critical test” for Paris, but “will one day be seen as a relatively small amount of money”.
The bigger picture is how institutional investors channel cash in the next few decades…
Steiner spoke at a recent divestment conference organised by activists in Paris, although he stressed UNEP wasn’t advocating such action…
“It is a classic case of how citizens can get toward a sense of driving the agenda.”
Steiner is a contender for the top UN job when Ban Ki-moon’s term ends next year.
He declined to comment on a potential bid. “What comes in the future is written in the stars.”http://www.rtcc.org/2015/09/22/inconceivable-paris-wont-deliver-climate-pact-says-unep-chief/

unbearably long:

21 Sept: CarbonBrief: Roz Pidcock: The Carbon Brief Interview: Prof Nebojsa Nakicenovic
Nebojsa Nakicenovic is the deputy director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and a former professor of energy economics at the Vienna University of Technology. He has been involved in the IPCC since the first assessment report, serving as a convening lead author of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. He is now running to succeed Dr Rajendra Pachauri as IPCC chair.
Nakicenovic: …I think the fifth assessment report came out somehow just at the right time because this year, 2015, is a very special year. We will have, next week in New York, the sustainable development goal summit and end of the year, Paris. This is all putting much stronger emphasis on the need for action and I think climate is an important part of the overall transformations ahead for our society…http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/09/the-carbon-brief-interview-prof-nebojsa-nakicenovic/

If we look at todays society we see that it’s basic building block, the family, has been politically corrected away to an endangered entity and that lies and deception have become the new truth.

Where real science, based on rigorous application of the scientific method, is mocked and treated as heresy by the vested interest faux cognoscenti.

Herbert Spencer, 1820 – 1903, in his book, The Study of Sociology, made an observation which is apt for us today with our recurrent mess of inept fumbling politicians: “Before he can remake his society, his society must make him.”

If we desire good, capable leaders with integrity, we need to reflect these values, first in ourselves, rather than gripe about the leaders we’ve ended up with.

from Reading University’s school of construction management and engineering!

20 Sept: Guardian: Denis Campbell: Asthma could be worsened by energy-efficient homes, warns study
Lack of ventilation caused by better insulation could create spike in indoor pollutants, research warns
The number of Britons with asthma could almost double by 2050 because the air inside homes is becoming more polluted as they become more energy-efficient, a new report warns.http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/20/energy-efficient-homes-could-worsen-asthma

19 Sept: Politico: EU climate goals set to clash with US aims
By Kalina Oroschakoff
EU ministers have signed off on the bloc’s negotiating position for global climate talks in Paris, calling for legally binding targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions to be reviewed every five years.
That sets up a potential conflict with the U.S. administration, which has been less ambitious in setting its emission cuts and is wary of the political blowback from Republicans in Congress over making the reductions binding…
The compromises made to Poland, whose government is in a very tight election campaign, were “irrelevant but face-saving,” said an official.
“There are some countries that are very sensitive to words,” said Arias Canete.
The EU’s steps weren’t enough for environmental groups…http://www.politico.eu/article/eu-climate-goals-set-to-clash-with-us-aims-cop21-paris-canete/

I see that The Guardian writers haven’t heard of heat exchangers. At a small cost in energy the outgoing air warms the incoming air.
The problem in the UK has come on hot days. No air conditioners allowed of course, so the heat builds up in these “energy-efficient” homes. A large exhaust fan to draw in cooler air at night would help, but guess what? Not allowed as they use electricity.

For people concerned/panicked about the coming warming they show a marked inability to think ahead.

9 Sept: Guardian: Jasper Jackson: Greenpeace hires team of investigative journalists
Greenpeace has hired a team of investigative journalists as part of plans to make investigations one of three pillars of its environmental campaigning.
Former Newsnight and Panorama correspondent Meirion Jones is a consultant on the project, which will be staffed by journalists including former BBC reporter Damian Kahya, New York Times and Vice stringer Lucy Jordan and Maeve McClenaghan, formerly of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
About half a dozen core team members will be supplemented by a network of freelancers, field researchers and specialists based around the world. The unit will also use technology such as satellite imaging and drones to build investigations.
Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said investigative journalism would sit alongside direct action and mobilising public opinion as the organisation’s core activities.
“Those three areas are where our resources are going and where people are going,” he said. “We’re totally committed to that so that gives us a significant budget [for investigations], not just in terms of hiring people on permanent contracts here but getting freelancers…
Sauven said the aim of the investigations was to put pressure on corporations and governments to change. Priorities for the team will be oceans and fishing, deforestation and climate change, in particular the undermining of climate agreements and funding of climate change deniers…http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/sep/09/greenpeace-hires-investigative-journalists-meiron-jones

21 Sept: ABC Qld Country Hour: Lydia Burton: A climate scientist wants landholders to reconsider how they measure rainfall
A climate scientist wants landholders to reassess the way they view rainfall data to have a more accurate understanding of expected rainfall.
Dave McRae, a researcher at the University of Southern Queensland, said landholders need to consider these rules of thumb, if they are going to try and manage climate related risk into the future.
“One of the things that I always start off with is encouraging people to get hold of an accurate set of rainfall records for their location,” he said.
“Just have a look at how variable the rainfall is there.”…READ ONhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-21/dave-mcrae-rainfall-data/6791292

22 Sept: ABC: Anna Salleh: Climate change may increase risk of erosion, flooding along Pacific coasts
The research, published today in Nature Geoscience, is the first to link a pattern of beach erosion around the Pacific with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate cycle…
“Most people, when they talk about climate change and the coast, just talk about sea level,” said co-author marine scientist, Professor Andrew Short from the University of Sydney…
“If the climate models, which are predicting more intense El Ninos and La Ninas, are right, then we can expect even more extreme changes on our beaches,” Professor Short said.
“We expect a significant increase in the amount of property at risk along the east coast of Australia.”…
AUDIO: Climate change looming security threat: report
Meanwhile, a new report has identified climate change as a significant security threat to Australia
The Climate Council report, co-authored by former defence force chief Admiral Chris Barrie, warns the Australian Defence Force is already under strain from rising demand for humanitarian aid in response to climate-induced disasters…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/pacific-beach-erosion-set-to-worsen-with-climate-change-storms/6783480

Nature Geoscience(published 21 Sept 2015) Coastal vulnerability across the Pacific dominated by El Nino/Southern Oscillation
Acknowledgements: Funding for this project was provided by the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the United States Geological Survey. California beach survey data collecrion was funded by the California dept of Boatingand Waterways and the United States Army Corps of Engineers…Autralian survey data collection in NSW was spported by the Australian Research Council and Warringah Council…etchttp://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2539.html

22 Sept: Australian: Phillip Hudson: Newspoll: Malcolm Turnbull soars as better PM
Malcolm Turnbull is the most popular prime minister in more than five years and his rise to the Liberal leadership has delivered the Coalition government a five-point leap in support to put it in front of Labor for the first time since before its first horror budget.
Trade Minister Andrew Robb says the latest Newspoll suggests the community has endorsed the Liberal Party’s decision to remove Tony Abbott as leader.
***Flagging a federal election within months, Mr Robb said the party needed to “lock in and get united” behind Malcolm Turnbull and his rejuvenated cabinet to galvanise its position in the polls. “We’ve got just a few months before the very important election, the overnight poll suggest a very encouraging start but we have got a lot to do to lock it in,” Mr Robb told ABC radio…
Question: Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Malcolm Turnbull is doing his job as Prime Minister?
(44% satisfied, 24% dissatisfied, 34% uncommitted).
COMMENT:
by Martin
Did anyone see Turnbull on his ABC last night, Typical Turnbull grandiloquent, incoherent ponderous,turgid, BS.
Jon replies:
It may take while to adapt to a PM who doesn’t deliver 3 word slogans interspersed with a dozen ums and ahhs but with actually descriptive words.
Chris replies:
The feedback I have seen on the 7.30 report from vast majority has been very positive.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll-malcolm-turnbull-soars-as-better-pm/story-fn59niix-1227537730410

Australia’s new Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull gets opinion poll boost as …
Fox News – ‎3 hours ago‎
A Newspoll published on Tuesday found that Malcolm Turnbull is Australia’s most popular prime minister in more than five years…

Malcolm Turnbull ‘most popular Aussie PM in years’
Belfast Telegraph-1 hour ago (Belfast Tele, for some reason, has been churning out Turnbull pieces)

don’t know where Bolt got his Mitchell excerpts from, as i cannot find a source & he doesn’t provide a link:

22 Sept: Bolt Blog: An editor losing that much money shouldn’t disparage the papers subsidising him
Bolt has argued that most of the response he receives — on-air during his 2GB segment and to his columns and blogs — is anger at the way Abbott was ruthlessly cut down by Turnbull…
The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell said that while this might be the case, the readers of Bolt’s blog were different from The Australian’s core demographic.
“Bolt’s audience includes many conservative retirees whereas The Australian’s readership is younger, rich, better educated and working in legal, political or the business community,’’ he said. “These people don’t read the Tele or Bolt.”…http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/an_editor_who_loses_that_much_money_shouldnt_disparage_the_papers_subsidisi/

(Belfast Tele, for some reason, has been churning out Turnbull pieces)

You know why Belfast and even Dublin are all over this don’t you?

I was watching a doco about the Irish credit bubble, collapse, and bailout + eternal austerity in Ireland, and they were interviewing a guy from one of the nationalized and then stripped and re-sold banks (I think he was from AngloIrish) … he railed against the unfair treatment of the Irish people, and that the EU should write off the debt, and then went straight into a spiel about how the EU needed to fight real problems like ‘climate change’, and support climate markets which could be big business for Ireland.

It seems there’s only one thing to do if you work in a finance sector that collapsed because of its own love of a property speculation bubble when your country is now wary of property speculation, and that’s find another market to speculate on of course! Especially if it is government subsidized and also EU subsidized by massive tax exemptions. Not only was this guy decrying how bad he felt for the average Irish person who had been literally plundered by big financial interests using their regulatory vacuum and tax-haven status to perform EU wide looting, but he was at the same time endorsing the next scheme to fleece the average European. Lament past looting whilst setting up the next round!

These people are shameless! Ireland has more than its fair share of trained accountants, corporate lawyers and bankers that need a new franchise due to its two decades of being an out-sourced legal jurisdiction flag of convenience for oligarchs across the EU and the US (even some cashed up Saudis applied for Irish citizenship to incorporate in Dublin: ie, Khalid bin Mahfouz, the infamous ex BCCI director no less! Net worth of $3.2 billion even after paying his $250mill fine for his BCCI involvement. Crime pays when fines are a fraction of profits and there’s no criminal prosecution). And now these guys have got the best scheme of all, one that can claim godlike benevolence whilst supporting UN Agenda 21 and the destruction of the the worlds middle class bridge to development. Neo-Feudalism 101, and the socialists all love it!

22 Sept: ABC: Reuters: Volkswagen US CEO Michael Horn admits carmaker ‘totally screwed up’ after emissions scandal
Volkswagen’s US head has said he was confident the German automaker would restore customer confidence after it “totally screwed up” by installing software that secretly thwarts US emissions tests in hundreds of thousands of diesel cars…
Mr Horn vowed to make amends at the lavish event (launch of the 2016 VW Passat) in New York, where the carmaker doled out German beer, pretzels and “cheddary ale fondue” to dealers and the media, before rock star Lenny Kravitz performed.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said the automaker used software that deceived regulators measuring toxic emissions, meaning it could face penalties of up to $US18 billion…
In Germany…government officials expressed concern the scandal could damage the reputation of its car industry…
Beyond the fines and lawsuits, and the billions of euros that evaporated in Volkswagen’s stock market value, the company faces a potentially crippling blow to its reputation…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/volkswagen-ceo-admits-carmaker-totally-screwed-up/6794770

21 Sept: WaPo/Bloomberg: VW’s U.S. Chief Apologizes for Diesel Cheating: ‘We Screwed Up’
Horn, and global VW brand chief Herbert Diess, canceled an interview with reporters and Horn left without taking questions at the first public appearance of a top Volkswagen AG executive since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the CARB said on Friday that the automaker admitted it had installed a “defeat device” to cheat emissions tests in a half-million of its diesel cars from 2009 to 2015.
“We are committed to do what must be done and to begin to restore your trust,” Horn said. “We will pay what we have to pay.”
Europe’s biggest carmaker faces billions in potential fines, ***possible jail time for its executives and the undoing of its plans to revive sales in the U.S. The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation, said officials familiar with the inquiry…
Volkswagen’s stock price plunged as much as 23 percent to 125.40 euros in Frankfurt on Monday, wiping out about 15.6 billion euros ($17.6 billion) in market value. The stock closed at 132.2 euros, its lowest in more than three years…http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NV1NHTSYF01X01-3HB4J6KH9A09IL53ARHKFC60RS

I sent this email to my MP, Louise Marcus. I will send it to as many as I can. I also included Jo’s six points above – nice synopsis, Jo, thanks.

Hi Louise,

I do not trust Malcom Turnbull with respect to his “climate change” policy.

No matter if you believe in man made CO2 having any effect on climate, or if you do not, as the CO2 produced in Australia is only 0.000024% of the atmosphere on this planet (in other words, nothing) even if we closed down all our power stations tomorrow and stopped driving our cars, en mass, it would MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE CLIMATE! China increases its CO2 production each year by the same amount as our total annual production.

If the supporters of Tony Abbott left in government allow Turnbull to mess with our direct action policy and introduce an ETS (to benefit traders such as Goldman Sachs) then you will have lost two votes to the Australian Liberty Alliance!

I’m not sure. In 2005, I visited San Diego, California. The old ’60s-70s beaches were as I remembered them. Visited San Francisco this summer. The old beaches are still as wide as they were 50 years ago. They have mini seawalls running along Route 1. The incoming waves are 200 meters from the walls at high tide. You can read “research reports” or observe events.

If you live in Sidney or Brisbane, and you remember what it was like 50 years ago, is the coastline really different, or pretty much the same?

if it’s 2 cm higher, then in another 50 years, try another 2 cm. Can you live with that? Where is the 400-3000 cm sea rise coming from?
From flakes. Ignore them. Or, believe them and move 10 km inland. (I can’t move 10 km, it’s too hard.)

Old farte -
I wasn’t saying the results of the study were correct. if u read between the lines, there was no connection to CAGW anyway, except by projection.

from comments at PickeringPost:
Boggzy from Perth: 22 Sept
I went onto The Daily Telegraph site this morning, after hearing that Mr Abbott had given an interview about Scott Morrison over his interview with Hadley last week.Mr Abbot pretty much said that Morrison had lied about what had happened. There were many comments supporting Mr Abbott view of what had happened. I have just visited the site again, to continue reading the comments and lo and behold! The story has been taken down and replaced with Mr Abbott just going surfing at the beach and how there is now a Liberal (read GetUp) group trying to force Mr Abbott out of his seat! Talk about censorship!

HERMES_11:
Opinion: Malcolm Turnbull is either lying about his intentions or is a sell-out
September 21, 2015 12:00am | Rowan Dean | The Courier-Mail
A month ago, pollsters predicted that Andrew Hastie would win Canning under Tony Abbott, by about 55-45. Which is exactly what happened. The so-called Turnbull “bounce” was non-existent. Indeed, what is now clear is that Abbott’s recovery was well under way, and the imminent Canning victory was precisely what the Turnbull plotters were afraid of…
The next election would have been difficult, for sure, but the most plausible scenario is that an Abbott-led Coalition would have won thanks to its superior policies…
Then there’s that small matter of personal integrity, or doesn’t that count anymore? Again, I find it hard to believe that a man who is a passionate believer in climate change, who represents one of the gayest and greenest electorates on the planet, and who is a sworn opponent of our constitutional monarchy is going to leave the policies that the Australian people voted for in 2013 untouched.http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/opinion-malcolm-turnbull-is-either-lying-about-his-intentions-or-is-a-sell-out/story-fnihsr9v-1227536034446

Willey:
According to Andrew Robb on radio about an hour ago, there will be an election called in the next ***two months…

100% Aussie:
Must watch on Smith’s site. An ad for climate change (last word from stu of NT) piecing old science fiction films together to make a case for climate change. Old film ads intermingled with alberici and cc warmsts’ warnings Goes for 10 minutes. and unfortunately is very effective.

Steven Kaye:
Here’s an interesting stat about Canning from the AEC website – the 2PP result from the night (before the counting of postals) is 54.94% to 45.06% in favour of the Libs.
***But when just the postal votes are counted, that result blows out to 59.51% to 40.49%, and when the two are combined it settles back down to 55.39% to 44.61% (still better than the result on the night)…http://pickeringpost.com/story/why-peta-doesn-t-trust-julie/5352

***so much for Phillip Coorey’s prediction (see what he said comment #14 on jo’s “Weekend Unthreaded”)

the ABC thread mentioned in the Pickering comments above – check it out:

It’s feeling a little bit like 1917 Russia in Australia lately isn’t it? Only difference this time is that we have no equivalent of the White Russians in Australia, unless you want to drink yourself to death to ease the pain.

ANOTHER WHITE RUSSIAN BARTENDER … WITHOUT THE COFFEE & CREAM!

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” – George Orwell describing the boot of Goldman Sachs (et al) and their new found mass of cultist green-shirts. Orwell would be so impressed with the monopoly capitalists that just convinced the entire ‘left wing’ that they are the savior of planet earth and the controllers of Earth’s thermostat! BRILLIANT! ANOTHER WHITE RUSSIAN BARTENDER!

According to Andrew Robb on radio about an hour ago, there will be an election called in the next ***two months…

I’d considered that possibility, it’s actually quite a worry (I’m assuming it won’t be a DD) if it is called and returned before Paris in December

It would allow Turnbull to change “climate policy” to whatever he wanted. I also believe that Turnbull would win the Lower House and take advantage of the chance to alter policy – the Nats would NOT then refuse to make a Coalition, and the coup would be complete

If an ETS is the outcome whichever party I vote for, I will vote ALP again after 40 years because I would rather the ALP own it in government than the Coalition.
And if the ALP does win, it will probably be the end of Turnbull.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not trying to insult any of your readers Jo for insinuating that anyone here dares read the SMH without a sick bucket handy.

Watch the little video at SMH for the carbon kiddies … Malcolm Turnbull is a little Fred Flintstone hero at the SMH just over a day after he ‘selected himself’ King! Now that’s some political satire that a dumb-down public can appreciate without straining any grey matter too much. The darling of the trendies.

None of us should fool ourselves, this was a Carbon Coup. Goldman $achs (et al) have the left and ‘right’ wing now completely under their control. Whatever is on the table at PARIS2015, Malcolm will sign it, and no doubt he’ll be having a large cheque signed simultaneously under the table later that day for his service to the fraternity.

Then after signing our economy over to a global bureaucracy he’ll launch a Banana Republic campaign to make it look like more sovereignty for the average Joe is being achieved … classic! The perfect political cover! The average Aussie loves a flag waving affair, not that the meaning behind it ever mattered when it comes to beer and pies.

An Australian ETS was always as certain as the Sun rises in the morning, and the working middle class being squeezed. DEATH AND TAXES, the only two certainties in life, and Malcolm and friends have combined them both into one global stockholm syndrome induced tyranny.

If Robb turns out to be correct you are absolutely right with your comment
” Objectively, one has to admire the clinical surgery of the strike”

But I would see it as political suicide for Turnbull — even if he did win the snap election then surely he would only last one term if he introduced the ETS with that course of action. At least I would hope the Australian voters would see through it and turf him out !!!
( or maybe this why I would make a hopeless politician –I could not conceive of it working long term )

22 Sept: SMH: Nicole Hasham: PM Malcolm Turnbull has lost his courage on climate change, says Bernie Fraser
The criticism comes as Senator David Leyonhjelm signalled a crossbench revolt if the Coalition, whose attitude to renewable energy has become more favourable since the leadership change, reneges on a move to ban government investment in wind and household solar…
The Climate Change Authority is due to release a draft report on emissions trading schemes by November 30.
Mr Fraser predicted it would show such schemes were the best way, operationally and economically, to cut greenhouse pollution.
Labor has announced plans to implement an emissions trading scheme if it wins power…
There has been speculation that a Turnbull-led government could tweak the Direct Action plan towards an emissions trading scheme, or put a stronger cap on industry emissions and enact new pollution standards for coal-fired power plants…
The Turnbull government has indicated a new attitude to renewable energy, and it is unclear if it will pursue a draft directive to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to ban investment in wind energy and household solar projects.
Senator Leyonhjelm, who is opposed to wind power, said a government deal with crossbenchers in June meant efforts would be directed towards “emerging” renewable technologies, rather than wind and small-scale solar…http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/pm-malcolm-turnbull-has-lost-his-courage-on-climate-change-says-bernie-fraser-20150922-gjs4vx.html

22 Sept: NYT: Coral Davenport: Senate Democrats to Unveil Aggressive Climate Change Bill
The measure would establish as United States policy a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2 percent each year through 2025 — a cut even larger than the target set by the Obama administration.
The bill has no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress, but Democrats say they believe that forcefully pushing for climate change policies could help them win control of the Senate in 2016. And if they regain the majority, they will move to enact climate legislation along the lines of the Cantwell bill.
“This is the kind of thing I’d embrace,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York…
Senate Democrats timed the release of the bill to coincide with a push this week at the United Nations General Assembly toward reaching a sweeping climate accord this fall at a summit meeting in Paris. They hope to indicate to world leaders that despite Republican opposition to the plan, they stand ready to back Mr. Obama’s policies…http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/us/politics/senate-democrats-to-unveil-aggressive-climate-change-bill.html?_r=0

22 Sept: CommercialAppeal: Cass Sunstein: The pope’s tricky message on climate change
(Cass Sunstein, a Bloomberg View columnist, is director of the Harvard Law School’s program on behavioral economics and public policy)
But economists don’t favor such a magical conception. They believe that the best way to reduce pollution, including greenhouse-gas emissions, is to require people to “internalize” the environmental costs — for example, through carbon taxes.
Pope Francis is not enthusiastic about that idea, because it would impose significant costs on poor nations, perpetrating an injustice “under the guise of protecting the environment.”
For similar reasons, he disapproves of buying and selling “carbon credits” — a system of cap and trade, another idea that economists like. He objects that it wouldn’t “allow for the radical change which present circumstances require,” and might turn out to be “a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.”…
The great University of Chicago law professor Karl Llewellyn is reported to have said, “Technique without morals is a menace; but morals without technique is a mess.”…http://www.commercialappeal.com/opinion/national/cass-sunstein-the-popes-tricky-message-on-climate-change-2048260d-8dd5-2569-e053-0100007f7b6d-328600151.html

Turnbull is reasoned and unidealistic. If he perceives that an ETS is in his interest he will adopt one, if not he will drop the idea like a hot potato. Unlike Tony Abbott he is unencumbered by concepts such as truth and doing the right thing. We can only hope that he leaves things as they are.

Why did Turnbull cross the road? Because it advanced his career path. Rant over.

22 Sept: WSJ: Auto Stocks Skid on Volkswagen
Emissions cheating scandal hits shares of auto makers and suppliers
By Saumya Vaishampayan
The Volkswagen emissions scandal hit shares of auto companies hard Tuesday, as investors sold everything from makers of auto parts to car manufacturers.
Volkswagen AG shares tumbled nearly 17% in Europe on Tuesday, bringing its losses so far this week to 31%. The German company said Tuesday that as many as 11 million vehicles around the world have the software allegedly used to cheat emissions tests and disclosed it would take a charge to earnings and cut its outlook for the year…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1% Tuesday…http://www.wsj.com/articles/auto-stocks-skid-on-volkswagen-1442954118

from Deutsche Welle: VW’s share price, already reeling from a difficult day’s trade on Monday, was down almost 20 percent on Tuesday at around 106 euros ($118) per share. In March this year, the same stocks were selling for more than 250 euros each.

22 Sept: Vox: Brad Plumer: Volkswagen’s appalling clean diesel scandal, explained
Regulators didn’t notice this ruse for years. The problem was only uncovered by an independent group, the International Council on Clean Transportation, which wanted to investigate why there was such a discrepancy between laboratory tests and real-road performance for several of VW’s diesel cars in Europe. So they worked with researchers at West Virginia University, who stuck a probe up the exhaust pipe of VW’s clean diesel cars and drove them from San Diego to Seattle…
As Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch pointed out to me, the EPA caught a number of truck manufacturers, including Caterpillar and Volvo, doing something similar back in 1998 — programming their diesel trucks to emit fewer pollutants in lab tests than they did on the road…
Clean diesel appears to be a genuinely promising technology — in theory, such vehicles could get both excellent mileage and lower emissions. But this whole scandal raises serious questions about how well automakers can actually achieve both goals in practice…http://www.vox.com/2015/9/21/9365667/volkswagen-clean-diesel-recall-passenger-cars

23 Sept: Weekly Times: NATALIE KOTSIOS: Malcolm Turnbull’s Cabinet raises eyebrows among Nationals MPs
Several National Party members questioned Josh Frydenberg’s elevation from Assistant Treasurer to Minister for Energy, Resources and Northern Australia — given Mr Frydenberg holds the inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong.
While some in the party raised concerns about Mr Frydenberg’s knowledge of the North — declared to be the new frontier in Australian agriculture — Queensland Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan defended Mr Turnbull’s choice.
“I think it actually just underlines the problem that for an area that’s roughly 40 per cent of Australia, we’re lacking in enough political representation to have enough people to put forward for these roles,” he said…http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/politics/malcolm-turnbulls-cabinet-raises-eyebrows-among-nationals-mps/story-fnkerdda-1227538804826

one anonymous Nationals MP quoted:

21 Sept: ABC Rural: Anna Vidot: New Minister for Resources and Northern Australia spruiks his credentials
The new Federal Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia, says he’ll continue to build on the Government’s vision for northern development…
There’s concern among some Nationals MPs about the appointment.
When contacted by the ABC this morning, one MP asked how Mr Frydenberg could “execute Northern Australia policy from [wealthy Melbourne suburb] Toorak?”…
Long serving Queensland Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald described Mr Frydenberg as an “odd” choice to take charge of the Federal Government’s Northern Australia portfolio.
“It’s an interesting appointment,” he said.
“He does come from inner-city Melbourne and it just looks odd.”
Nonetheless, Senator Macdonald said he was confident the “very intelligent” and “very enthusiastic” Mr Frydenberg would do a good job…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-21/josh-frydenberg-takes-resources-northern-australia-portfolio/6791726

VIDEO: 23 Sept: MichaelSmithNews: The ABC’s treatment of two new prime ministers – same interviewer, same program
Thanks to Stu of NT for this important record.
In June this year PM Abbott said “Heads should roll” at the ABC over the arrangements it made to bring the convict and Islamist terrorism promoter Zaky Mallah and his views onto the QandA show…
The job of turning the government’s resolve into action fell to Mr Abbott’s communications minister Malcolm Turnbull.
As the controversy raged and the Left piled into Mr Abbott, Mr Turnbull and Mr Scott both happened to be present at a function. So was a well-known photographer for The Australian newspaper. This is not a private snap, Mr Turnbull and Mr Scott happily posed for it knowing what implicit message it sent…http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2015/09/the-abcs-treatment-of-two-new-prime-ministers-same-interviewer-same-program.html

23 Sept: Bolt Blog: Postal votes in Canning showed Abbott was doing well
(LINK)
The postal vote count for the Canning byelection has contradicted the widely held assumption that the change of Liberal leadership helped the member-elect, Andrew Hastie, win the seat by a comfortable margin.
Postal votes, most of which were submitted before Tony Abbott lost the prime ministership to Malcolm Turnbull, show a reduced swing of 2.3% to Labor… On Monday night Hastie was on 59.5% on a two-party-preferred basis and the Labor candidate, Matt Keogh, on 40.5% of postal votes.
By Monday night only 76% of the postal votes submitted ahead of last Saturday’s byelection had been counted…(P)ostal votes also showed a stronger primary vote of 52.9% for Hastie, compared with his overall primary vote of 47%…http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

22 Sept: Thomson Reuters: Peter Schwab: Cabinet will decide Climate Change Authority’s future
A list of Climate Change Authority (CCA) board appointments, including a new chair, will be decided by the new federal Cabinet, a source close to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told Carbon Extra.
Speculation on who will be offered CCA board positions is rife. The appointments could have a profound effect on the focus of the authority’s work, and its stature as an independent policy adviser to the Federal Government.
According to a source close to the CCA the govt’s plan was to “stack the board to try to change its focus to selling” its direct action (DA) climate change policy…
Four CCA board positions had already been left vacant for many months despite federal environment minister Greg Hunt forwarding a list of potential members to former PM Tony Abbotts’ office some time ago, Carbon Extra understands. PMO had not acted in line with its policy to abolish the independent authority – a CCA repeal Bill remains on the table in parliament.
The CCA is working on the final draft of a report on the potential for an Australian emissions trading scheme (ETS). An ETS is at the centre of the Labor Opposition’s climate change policy. The ETS report is due on Nov 30…
Meantime, Hunt’s spokesperson denied media reports ANU economist Professor Warrick McKibbin would be offered a CCA board position. His “name has never been put forward and is not being put forward”, the spokesperson told Carbon Extra. McKibbin told Carbon Extra today (Sept 18) that was correct. Hunt had never directly sought his view on a CCA appointment but he had been “sounded out” by a senior department official. He’d rejected the offer because he “couldn’t work with the board” which was “skewed to the left”.
McKibbon alleged the CCA was “set up to be a thorn in the side of the [Abbott] govt and the board’s job was to do that”. He said the CCA did not have a clear goal. Setting a clear direction for the authority ought to be one of the first jobs of Turnbull’s environment minister, McKibbin said…
Many sources believe DA – the ERF and a safeguard mechanism to regulate emissions – could be transformed into such a scheme, especially if the govt axed its opposition to major emitters using international carbon credits to acquit any liabilities. That hope turned to expectation when Turnbull, a former environment minister and ETS advocate, became PM on Sept 14…http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/workplace/2015/09/22/cabinet-will-decide-climate-change-authoritys-future/

22 Sept: Herald Sun: AAP: State-based ETS not possible: SA premier
SOUTH Australia’s premier has rejected speculation of a state-based emissions trading scheme, saying such a model is likely impossible in Australia.
“FRANKLY there are some very substantial constitutional barriers which would prevent us from introducing such a scheme,” Jay Weatherill told South Australian Parliament on Tuesday.
The comments come after InDaily reported last week that SA Environment Minister Ian Hunter was exploring the concept of a state-based or interstate ETS and had sought research on the idea.
Mr Hunter had reportedly been analysing the US state of California and the Canadian province of Quebec, both of which have emissions trading models that are linked for inter jurisdictional trade…
Mr Weatherill said the “overwhelming consensus” of people who have looked honestly at tackling climate change decided a market-based model, such as carbon pricing or emissions trading, was best.
He mentioned conservative leaders Margaret Thatcher, John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull among those people…http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/state-based-ets-not-possible-sa-premier/story-fni0xqi4-1227539110565

22 Sept: ABC Breakfast: Eighty female scientists to lead expedition to Antarctica to highlight impact of climate change
Women have pushed open the door to the Federal Cabinet—and now they’re aiming to conquer Antarctica.
Eighty prominent female scientists will lead an expedition to Antarctica next year to highlight the impact of climate change.
The Australian-led initiative, called ‘Homeward Bound’, aims to establish a global network of female researchers who will play a greater leadership role in driving environmental change.
Guest: Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas, Research scientist, Australian Antarctic Divisionhttp://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/eighty-female-scientists-to-lead-expedition-to/6793688

22 Sept: ABC AM: Australian Defence under-prepared for climate change security threat
MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Why has that happened? Why has defence and government here been reluctant to accept that this may be a national security problem?
Retired Admiral CHRIS BARRIE: I think it would be a mistake to think defence hasn’t been doing some work, it has, and that’s well and good.
But when you analyse the current state of play in all three countries, you realise just how far behind we’ve become.
For example, have we looked at the climate change risks to critical civilian infrastructure in the civilian workforce and its impacts on military infrastructure operations and training?
Well, our allies have done that, but we haven’t, according to us.
Have we had a look at risk assessment of climate effect of extreme weather events on military bases?
Well, I think protecting our bases against climate extreme weather events would be an important thing to do so we can be prepared to respond as required.
MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: And there have been a number of reports in recent years warning of the potential security consequences of climate change. Has defence been listening?
CHRIS BARRIE: Well I think ordinary people in defence have been…
In the United States the Pacific command has been directed to engage climate change issues throughout the region.
In the UK and in the US those have been mandated by the lawmakers…
Yes, previous white papers have paid scant attention to climate change issues, and that’s been a bit of a disappointment. We would like to see it become front and centre as one of the main issues on national security.http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4317100.htm

22 Sept: ABC Drive: Jeremy Story Carter: Privatisation of the ABC is off the table: Senator Mitch Fifield
Australia’s new minister for communications, Senator Mitch Fifield, says the new federal government cabinet is supportive of the ABC and will not seek to privatise the organisation.
Senator Fifield is previously on record as saying there is ‘merit’ to privatising the ABC.
Speaking during his first interview since being sworn in to his new portfolio on Monday, he distanced himself from those comments, made in 2008.
‘I was, I confess, seven or eight years ago a frisky backbencher, who sought to give a provocative speech,’ he told RN Drive.
‘Changing the ownership arrangements of the ABC is not something that I am seeking to do.’…
‘One thing is certain: as a government, we will make sure the ABC is well resourced to do the job that Australians want it to do.
‘We are a government that recognises the important role that the ABC plays.’…
Senator Fifield told RN Drive that under the newly arranged cabinet of Prime Minister Turnbull, the government ‘would not be strangers’ to the ABC…http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/new-communications-arts-minister-mitch-fifield-on-abc-and-nbn/6796162

22 Sept: Poynter Institute: Kristen Hare: AP memo: Instead of climate change skeptics, use ‘those who reject mainstream climate science’
The Associated Press (LINK)
The Associated Press updated its global warming entry on Tuesday, according to a memo…
“We are adding a brief description of those who don’t accept climate science or dispute the world is warming from man-made forces:
“Our guidance is to use climate change doubters or those who reject mainstream climate science and to avoid the use of skeptics or deniers.”
Paul Colford, vice president and director of media relations at the AP, wrote about the memo from Stylebook editors Sally Jacobsen, Dave Minthorn and Paula Froke. The memo also included a bit about how the AP makes decisions on stylebook changes.
Here’s the full climate change entry:
“global warming The terms global warming and climate change can be used interchangeably. Climate change is more accurate scientifically to describe the various effects of greenhouse gases on the world because it includes extreme weather, storms and changes in rainfall patterns, ocean acidification and sea level. But global warming as a term is more common and understandable to the public”…ETC ETChttp://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/374470/ap-memo-instead-of-climate-change-skeptics-use-those-who-reject-mainstream-climate-science/

22 Sept: Business Green: UN seeks carbon offset market boost with new “Climate Neutral Now” initiative
Microsoft, Sony, Adidas and Marks & Spencer amongst businesses backing new Climate Neutral Now initiative
The programme, which is being launched as part of New York Climate Week, calls on individuals, governments and businesses to measure their carbon emissions, reduce their carbon footprint, and then offset their outstanding emissions by purchasing UN-certified carbon credits.
Under the programme, the UN is to provide a new online portal designed to make it easier for organisations and individuals to measure their carbon footprint and source certified emission reduction (CER) credits, which are issued through the UN-approved Clean Development Mechanism offset scheme.
“Climate neutrality is a long term vision of the world we want this century and backed by science,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)…
Figueres added that she has already pledged to personally become ‘Climate Neutral Now’, and called on others to join the initiative…
The new campaign is being backed by actor Edward Norton, who insisted carbon offsetting could deliver a wide range of benefits…http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2427104/un-seeks-carbon-offset-market-boost-with-new-climate-neutral-now-initiative

22 Sept: Business Green: Climate watchdog (Committee on Climate Change) demands clarification on UK strategy, as Al Gore says he is ‘puzzled’ by renewables policy rollback
Government’s controversial watering down of green policies faces fiercest criticism yet
By James Murray, Madeleine Cuff
The intervention came on the same morning as former US Vice President Al Gore delivered an unusually strongly worded attack on the UK government’s decision to roll back renewable energy policies, declaring himself “puzzled” at the government’s motives.
Speaking at an event hosted by think tank Green Alliance, Gore said he had “great respect” for Prime Minister David Cameron but feared he risked compromising the UK’s position as a leader on global climate action…
.”I had a brilliant headmaster when I was a student who was famous for a single saying; he said: over and over again in life, we are faced with the same question, with the same choice between the hard right and the easy wrong.
“And I think that the wrong choice on support for renewable energy and conservation and sustainability appears easy when financial backers with a stake in seeing things stay as they are are quite clever and immensely persistent in giving all the reasons why it should not change.”…
The Department of Energy and Climate Change defended its recent policy moves, arguing that the government remained “determined to reduce emissions in the most cost-effective way whilst keeping bills as low as possible for hardworking families and businesses”…http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2427038/committee-on-climate-change-demands-urgent-clarification-on-uk-climate-strategy-as-al-gore-declares-himself-puzzled-by-renewables-policy-roll-back

22 Sept: RTCC: Ed King: It’s Clooney v Blair as ‘climate hero’ Nasheed fights for freedom
Amal Clooney faces Cherie Blair as jailed former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed appeals his sentence
He was one of the few climate vulnerable leaders involved on the final hours of the summit, when heads of state from the US, China, India, Germany and other major powers met to salvage a deal from what had become a diplomatic train wreck.
“He was only one considered of sufficient stature, and that happens because of the moral force that he had acquired,” says Mark Lynas, a UK environmental activist who was Nasheed’s advisor in 2009…
Clooney’s celebrity – due in part to her marriage to a Hollywood star called George – has ensured a gaggle of reporters and photographers during her visits to the islands…http://www.rtcc.org/2015/09/22/its-clooney-v-blair-as-climate-hero-nasheed-fights-for-freedom/

23 Sept: Canberra Times: Sarah Edelman: Whether in Parliament or the workplace, let’s call out the narcissists among us
(Dr Sarah Edelman is a clinical psychologist and author.)
Narcissistic personalities are characterised by an overdeveloped sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy for others and a belief that one is “special” and should associate with high-status individuals…
If it is true, as Brendan Nelson purportedly claimed, that Malcolm Turnbull is a narcissist, he is in good company. According to American expert on the subject, Professor Jerrold Post, narcissism is widespread among politicians…
Grossly overestimating their intelligence and abilities, narcissistic individuals may fail to consult, and consequently make poor decisions. When the praise and admiration they expect is not forthcoming, they become angry and disdainful.
Criticism or lack of appreciation will trigger intense emotional reactions – the “narcissistic injury” typically prompts rage, revenge fantasies and attempts to damage those who have spurned them…
A strong sense of entitlement and perception of self as “special” means that rules that apply to others do not apply to them…http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/whether-in-parliament-or-the-workplace-lets-call-out-the-narcissists-among-us-20150922-gjs6p0

23 Sept: CarbonBrief: Sophie Yeo: Explainer: How does climate change fit within the Sustainable Development Goals?
They do not skimp on ambition. If countries succeed in meeting the goals, by 2030 there will be an end to poverty, hunger, child labour, AIDS and various other problems that blight millions of lives globally.
Climate change plays an important role in what the UN is calling the “post-2015 development agenda”. “Sustainable development” – a notoriously difficult term to define – becomes impossible unless global temperature rise is tackled, according to the final document…
There are high hopes that the SDGs will be more successful than the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals)…
Kitty van der Heijden, director of the World Resources Institute Europe: “It is a truly global action agenda, whereas the MDGs were largely about an agenda for the south, with the role of the north just being the funders. This agenda is as much about what happens there in the south, as about what happens here in the developed economies. This is not about development cooperation like the MDGs, but ***it is about a structural transformation of our economy in all countries, for all sectors and for all people, and the great thing is it will be adopted universally.”…http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/09/explainer-how-does-climate-change-fit-within-the-sustainable-development-goals/

24 Sept: BBC: Pope Francis urges action on climate change on visit to US
At the White House – Barbara Plett Usher, BBC News
President Obama couldn’t have hoped for a clearer endorsement of his climate agenda from such an immense source of moral authority…
His position tracks so closely to the president’s it has some conservatives grumbling…
The pope has pushed back against criticism that he’s “a bit lefty” and indeed, he doesn’t fit neatly into American political divisions…
in an everyday act of resistance to the pomp and circumstance of high office he drove up to the White House in a humble Fiat…
After shaking hands and giving hugs and kisses to the largely young crowd, the pope boarded a modest hatchback trailed by a convoy of large security vehicles…
After the Pope spoke, he held a private meeting with the president at the White House Oval Office before the Pope embarked on a parade in a specially outfitted jeep known as the “Popemobile”…http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34337942

Guardian unites, then divides:

24 Guardian: Rory Carroll: Pope Francis unites divided Americans as Obama praises his work
How many divisions has the pope? Stalin once sneered – but that was before the world’s superpower swooned over Pope Francis. Rapturous crowds, a reverential White House welcome, a trumpet fanfare, TV networks hanging on his every word: the United States isn’t merciful with his desire to be humble…
Francis pulled up in his now-famous Fiat, a Lilliputian marvel in the world’s limousine and SUV capital…
He explicitly endorsed Obama’s regulatory programme to fight climate change…
Lest climate-change deniers miss the urgency, Francis added…
After a private meeting with Obama in the Oval office, Francis swapped the Fiat for a popemobile – a converted Jeep Wrangler – and kissed babies…http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/pope-francis-unites-divided-americans-barack-obama

22 Sept: AFR: Primrose Riordan: Greg Hunt ‘very supportive’ of renewables industry
Environment Minister Greg Hunt says the renewables industry should feel “very supported” under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull…
Mr Hunt has also said he would seek ways for Australia to “do more” on climate change with Mr Turnbull after the United Nations conference in Paris, and said the appointment of five new members of the Climate Change Authority board was delayed by the leadership spill…
In retaining control of the portfolio under Mr Turnbull, Mr Hunt confirmed he had taken control of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, which funded renewables, a sign they may not be axed…
He said dropping the government’s policy to abolish ARENA and the CEFC would be “a return to common sense” and would “help to defuse much of the political risk that has continued to cloud investment under the former prime minister”…
Mr Hunt also revealed he was about to appoint five new members to the Climate Change Authority board before last week’s leadership change delayed the decision.
“We were almost in the position to appoint five new members to the board that I suspect will be all high quality in any event. We were very close then there were some changes,” he said.
He said after a portfolio direction meeting expected in the next week or so, he was likely to move ahead with the appointments…
But Mr Hunt said the government was considering further action on climate change…
“Malcolm is passionate about the global climate challenge, and I am passionate about it.” …
Mr Hunt said “the door was open” for international permits to be considered as part of a 2017-18 review of the emissions reduction fund and safeguards.
Of all climate policies, polling has shown that incentives to the renewable sector are popular…http://www.afr.com/news/politics/greg-hunt-very-supportive-of-renewables-industry-20150922-gjse3p

24 Sept: Bolt Blog: Victorian Labor finances another media outlet of the Left. With your money, of course
(LINK)”The future of The Conversation will secured with today’s announcement that the Andrews Labor Government will provide a $3 million investment towards the news and commentary site.
“The funding commitment of $1 million per annum over 3 years will safeguard the jobs of 32 employees – including 26 Melbourne-based staff.
“Earlier this year, the website suffered a major setback after the Federal Liberal Government decided to end funding support for the highly regarded platform.”
BOLT: And for Labor’s money you get Labor’s messages, especially the global warming ones…ETChttp://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/victorian_labor_finances_another_media_outlet_of_the_left_with_your_money_o/

Bolt has now dropped the thread/link for the Funding/Conversation piece, by including the topic under this one:

24 Sept: Bolt Blog: ABC wants reward for backing Turnbull
(Canberra Times) The ABC is hopeful the installation of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister will allow it to claw back some of the $250 million slashed from the broadcaster last year as tension between the government and broadcaster cools off…
“There will be no more culture wars,” a Liberal source said, flagging an end to the open hostilities between the government and the ABC during recent times…
(THE CONVERSATION/FUNDING STUFF FOLLOWS)http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/abc_wants_reward_for_backing_turnbull/

24 Sept: Guardian: Daniel Hurst: Abbott considered investigation into ‘exaggerated’ Bureau of Meteorology temperature data
Documents show former PM was briefed on setting up a taskforce into whether the Bureau of Meteorology exaggerated records – as claimed in the Australian
But the environment minister, Greg Hunt, pushed for the then prime minister to drop the idea.
The documents, obtained by the ABC under freedom of information laws, show the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) prepared a brief for Abbott in September 2014 noting that recent articles published by the Australian had “accused [the bureau] of altering its temperature data records to exaggerate estimates of global warming”.
The brief said the bureau’s climate records were “recognised internationally as among the best in the world” and used “a scientific approach that has been peer-reviewed”.
“Nevertheless, the public need confidence information on Australia’s, and the world’s, climate is reliable and based on the best available science,” the then secretary of PM&C, Ian Watt, wrote…
PM&C subsequently prepared a new brief for Abbott suggesting he agree to amending the terms of reference for the taskforce so that it would merely provide “coordination and advice” on “quality assured climate and emissions data for Australia”. The brief said Bishop had “agreed to the removal of reference” to the bureau…http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/24/abbott-considered-investigation-into-exaggerated-bom-temperature-data

AUDIO: 14mins48secs: 24 Sept: 2GB: Alan Jones – John Madigan
Alan talks to the independent Victorian senator about corruption and fraud in the wind power industryhttp://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/129556
Pat, I’ll set up a thread for this. – Jo

23 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: Six climate nuggets from Obama’s Rolling Stone interview
US president confident Paris will see climate deal, thinks pace of carbon cutting will accelerate once structure is in place
The full article is well worth a (LINK). Jeff Goodell spent an hour with Obama during his recent trip to Alaska, made to highlight his climate change concerns.
Time and time again the phrase “not fast enough” crops up, a sign of the frustration the world’s most powerful man feels about the sluggish nature of global climate talks…
Obama also defends the decision to allow oil exploration in the Arctic, explains why fracking is ok, and outlines his hopes for this year’s Paris climate summit…
How Obama SAVED Copenhagen
“Copenhagen, although it was a disorganized mess — and I still remember flying in that last day, and nothing was happening, and I literally had to rescue the entire enterprise by crashing a meeting of the BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India and China] and strong-arming them into coming up with at least a document that could build some consensus going into the future.”…
Climate will hit security…ETC ETChttp://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/09/23/six-climate-nuggets-from-obamas-rolling-stone-interview/

24 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Gerard Wynn: What’s with Shell’s new Energy Transitions Commission?
Oil major to launch new low carbon programme with BHP Billiton, Statoil and some solar firms in bid to green image
The first task of its “Energy Transitions Commission” will be to prove its sincerity and impartiality…
Shell has recruited external thought leaders and the chief executives of multiple energy, technology and consultancy companies to the Commission, which it will launch at a “Fortune Brainstorm” conference on energy, technology and sustainability in Texas…
Naturally, some sceptics might wonder if this is a PR job…
One might expect key findings to reiterate its call for a global carbon price, which will hurt coal more. And it will want to underline the importance of CCS in the fight against climate change, given its strategic position, and the public funds at stake. For example in Britain, it is hoping to win next year a share of £900 million for its gas-CCS project at Peterhead in Scotland…http://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/09/23/whats-with-shells-new-energy-transitions-commission/

also at the website, with pic of Empire State building lit up in Green:

New York climate week to test global zeal for Paris pact by Alex Pashley
Climate Week’s diet of low-carbon announcements peps up December summit as leaders fly in for UN jamboree
Over 100 affiliated events are scattered around the Big Apple, organisers says, culminating in a top event bringing together head honchos of climate-smart firms and politicians…
Crucially, these are the “dynamos of the global economy”, said Carl Pope, an adviser to Michael Bloomberg who is the UN’s special envoy for cities and climate…
A campaign to blacklist coal, tarsands and other polluting investments has swelled 50 times in size on a year earlier…
Fortune 500 firms pledge to run on 100% renewable electricity Goldman Sachs, Nike and Walmart were among eight new companies boosting the one-year-old RE100 campaign to 36 members on Wednesday.
Timeframes vary on when companies will reach their lofty goals, but the signal is important…

top 3 Most popular articles from the list at bottom of ClimateChangeNews homepage (tho I’ve never seen more than a couple of comments at the RTCC website, & don’t believe they have any sizeable readership, apart from the CAGW-invested faithful):

here’s the Super grab.
Morrison omits renewables from his list of where this money could go in order to diversify the economy, but that omission only makes me more suspicious, especially as Coorey doesn’t bring up that possibility either:

23 Sept: AFR: Phillip Coorey: Treasurer Scott Morrison wants to unlock retirees’ home wealth
New Treasurer Scott Morrison will ditch all international commitments and dedicate himself towards convincing ordinary people of the need for tax reform, which will include incentives to encourage retirees to unlock and spend the billions of dollars locked up in their homes and other assets…
“The key change in politics in the last two weeks is that we may well, and hopefully have, seen a shift from that combative phase, into a more optimistic phase. The politics of optimism, I think will more likely drive policy debate,” he said…
Mr Morrison injected new life into the tax debate by rekindling ideas he floated early this year as Social Services Minister about unlocking the capital increasingly hoarded by an ageing population.
This would help grow those sectors of the economy that will contribute more to the economy as the resources boom moves to the slower production phase…
“We want those areas of the economy that are investing in new services, to be able to grow and we want that investment to pay off, we want people to be enthused about following through about the decisions they want to make.”…
“There is a huge amount of capital that is tied up at the moment,” Mr Morrison said on Wednesday, and did ot rule out confining the incentives to housing.
“It’s big and it’s getting bigger.”…http://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/afr-national-policy-series/treasurer-scott-morrison-wants-to-unlock-retirees-home-wealth-20150922-gjsrw7

We should have nothing to do with the unelected Marxists that infest the useless U.N.

Bishop is a narcissist in pursuit of self gratification at the taxpayers expense and a global warmer anxious to buy into the CAGW fiasco using our money for her world fame !

She needs to go along with true b’lver Hunt and that pretend coalition PM aka leftist true b’lver Turnbull !

Abbott should form his own true conservative party and form a new coalition with the Nationals and leave the Turncoat and his True B’lver buddies like Bishop and Hunt to diminish in an obsolete and insignificant new minority party !

And then work on the much needed abolition of the dysfunctional and useless senate

Only after implementation of the aforementioned will we finally see proper and good governance and be rid of the true b’lver scum currently infesting the coalition !

Monckton predicted all this 7 months ago , and as usual he is on the money >>>>